Potholes: Treating the illness not just the symptom
With the publication of the ALARM survey, chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, David Giles, talks to LocalGov about investing in local roads.
PM tells councils to ‘get on with the job’ of fixing potholes
24/03/2025 Councils will be required to publish progress reports on what they are doing to tackle potholes if they are to access £1.6bn of highway maintenance funding. |
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Potholes: Treating the illness not just the symptom
17/03/2025 With the publication of the ALARM survey, chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, David Giles, talks to LocalGov about investing in local roads. |
ALARM: Pothole repairs backlog hits £17bn
17/03/2025 Council chiefs have repeated their call for long-term funding for road maintenance as the ALARM survey reveals the pothole repairs backlog has reached £17bn. |
PAC: Inequalities risk being ‘baked into’ charge point roll-out
12/03/2025 Regional divides and inequalities risk being ‘baked into’ the roll-out of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, MPs have warned. |
Lancashire councillors agree £28m for pothole repairs
10/03/2025 Lancashire councillors have earmarked nearly £28m to repair potholes as part of a larger investment in the county’s highways infrastructure over the next year. |
Zurich calls for more cash to improve local road safety
04/03/2025 A major council insurer has called for increased funding for local authority road maintenance and more flexibility when spending it. |
‘Britain’s wonkiest road’ set to reopen
18/02/2025 A Wiltshire road that was labelled Britain’s wonkiest after it was broken up in a landslip should reopen this spring, the local authority has said. |
AI and the Pothole Crisis: Learning from 'Down Under’
04/02/2025 Leo Hanna, executive vice president UK at TechnologyOne, looks at what the UK can learn from Australia when it comes to using AI to identify potholes. |
Questions emerge over frequency of flyover inspections
03/02/2025 A flyover which has been closed due to concerns about the safety of a concrete pillar had not been inspected weekly, despite claims to the contrary. |
Electric buggy pilot launched in London borough
21/01/2025 A pilot scheme allowing residents to hire electric buggies has been launched in the Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in an effort to combat traffic congestion. |
PAC brands local roads a ‘national embarrassment’
16/01/2025 MPs have called England’s local roads a ‘national embarrassment’ and slammed the Department for Transport (DfT) for not taking its responsibility for the issue seriously enough. |
National Pothole Day founder announces retirement
15/01/2025 The UK’s leading anti-pothole campaigner has announced his retirement after 12 years urging Westminster to do more to improve roads. |
Pothole repair costs rise
15/01/2025 The cost of pothole damage to vehicles increased by more than £1m last year, according to the AA’s Pothole Index. |
National Pothole Day: Time to focus on permanent repairs
14/01/2025 Mike Hansford, chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA), says it’s time to focus on permanent pothole repairs. |
Council concludes ‘battle of the pothole repair machines’
13/01/2025 Gloucestershire County Council has completed its trial of four different pothole-filling machines declaring that they ‘all have their strengths’. |
Legal action launched against controversial Cambridgeshire bus road
06/01/2025 Campaigners have launched a legal challenge against a proposed Cambridgeshire bus route arguing it threatens environmentally significant areas. |
'Carbon bomb' warning adds to relief road woes
24/12/2024 Shropshire has shrugged off an estimate of the carbon impact of a road scheme by increasing the budget and timescale for its pledge to offset emissions. |
Quarter of extra pothole cash to be held back
20/12/2024 Ministers have confirmed an extra £500m for local road maintenance in England next year, but a quarter of the cash will be held back on the basis of an incentive process that has yet to be worked out. |
The Bumpy Road Ahead: Labour’s great pothole challenge
17/12/2024 David Giles, chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), discusses the state of the local road system and what Labour should do to help drive improvements. |
UltraCrete Keeps Communities Connected
10/12/2024 UltraCrete's market-leading cold lay asphalts have been utilised by a leading Telecommunications supplier to complete multiple installations throughout North Yorkshire. |
Birmingham seeks approval for default 20mph limit
02/12/2024 Birmingham City Council has asked the Government to allow it to introduce a default 20mph speed limit. |
Major Road Network identified as 'road safety priority'
26/11/2024 The crash rate on major local authority roads in England is four times that on National Highways’ strategic road network (SRN), a new report has found. |
Pothole claims double in a year
20/11/2024 Compensation claims to councils for pothole-related damage to vehicles have more than doubled in a year, new data has revealed. |
Thousands sign petition against Haringey parking fare rise
13/11/2024 A petition urging Haringey Council not to scrap daily parking permits for visitors has received 3,700 signatures. |
Roman road discovered directly under Old Kent Road
13/11/2024 A 2,000-year-old section of Roman road has been uncovered directly beneath Old Kent Road. |
One in five pothole-damaged cars written off
11/11/2024 A fifth of insurance claims involving a car damaged by a pothole have led to the vehicle being declared a write-off, Allianz has reported. |
Council increasingly bothered by badgers
11/11/2024 Damage caused by badgers to a Lincolnshire road ‘has turned out to be much more severe than previously thought,’ the highway authority has said. |
Analysis reveals who gets the most – and least – pothole funding
05/11/2024 Brighton and Hove has been identified as the local authority in England that received the most additional budget per mile for pothole maintenance last year. |
Scotland announces local safety cash with £4m for 20mph limits
05/11/2024 The Scottish Government has committed £14m to Scotland’s 32 councils to enhance road safety, with £4m dedicated to the rollout of 20mph limits. |
Council declares badger emergency
04/11/2024 Lincolnshire County Council has obtained a ‘last-minute’ licence for emergency works to stop a road falling apart after it was damaged by badgers. |
Jail warning for Welsh residents who reserved parking spots
01/11/2024 A Welsh council has warned residents of a street near Aberystwyth that they could face almost a year in prison for reserving parking spaces with cones. |
Budget: Reeves announces £500m for potholes
30/10/2024 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced an extra £500m a year for local roads maintenance from next year and an ‘interim’ settlement for the national network to keep strategic projects moving. |
Workers face abuse over road repairs
18/10/2024 Staff and contractors working to maintain roads in West Sussex have faced escalating levels of abuse in recent months, the council has reported. |
Just one in five pothole damage claims successful
17/10/2024 Just one in five claims for pothole-related damage to a vehicle were successful in the past year, research has revealed. |
Pothole-related breakdowns jump by 10,000
07/10/2024 The number of pothole-related breakdowns has increased by 10,000 compared to last year, according to the AA Pothole Index. |
Welsh councils face 'challenging' 20mph decisions
20/09/2024 Welsh authorities face ‘challenging decisions’ as they review requests for some roads to be exempt from the 20mph default speed limit, council leaders say. |
RSTA launches first Pothole Prevention Week
19/09/2024 The Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) has launched its first Pothole Prevention Week campaign, running from 16-21 September. |
Stafford declares 'roads emergency'
18/09/2024 Councillors in Stafford have declared a ‘roads emergency’ across the county of Staffordshire. |
Devon County Council helps electrify one million miles of road
29/08/2024 Devon County Council’s network of public electric vehicle chargers have electrified over one million miles of road travel two years since installation. |
Low emission zones generate £1bn
28/08/2024 Local authorities have generated more than £1bn from low emission, clean air and zero emission zones since April 2019, new research has revealed. |
Shock as council paints over potholes
23/08/2024 Residents and councillors in Lymington were left in shock after the highway authority closed a pothole-riddled road for repairs – only to paint over the cavities. |
Haigh: Councils should decide on traffic measures
22/08/2024 The transport secretary has pledged to back councils that implement low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and 20mph limits, with the new government ‘absolutely determined’ to end the Tories’ ‘culture wars’ approach to transport. |
Landslip repairs to cost council £3.5m
15/08/2024 Northumberland County Council has estimated it will spend £3.5m repairing a road that suffered a landslip last year. |
Croydon splashes £12.5m on highways
15/08/2024 Croydon Council’s executive mayor has approved a £12.5m capital programme for the borough’s highway infrastructure for 2024-25, as well as a new five-year Highway Asset Management Strategy. |
Liverpool warns 40,000 drivers caught by new cameras
14/08/2024 Liverpool City Council issued 40,000 warnings to drivers caught committing moving traffic violations by new cameras in the past six months. |
Concern over pothole-riddled roads reaches record levels
12/08/2024 Nearly six out of 10 drivers say the condition and maintenance of local roads was one of their top motoring concerns, according to a new survey by the RAC. |
Council drops defence of road closure
07/08/2024 Cambridgeshire County Council has agreed it will no longer defend a legal challenge of its decision to close a city road bridge to cars. |
Potholes: What Labour should do to fix local roads
23/07/2024 Campaigner Mark Morrell, known in the media as Mr Pothole, sets out what the new government should do to fix the local road system. |
Government failing to track pothole funding, auditors warn
23/07/2024 The Government does not know whether the funding it allocates to councils to fix the pothole-riddled road system is being used effectively, auditors warn. |
Wales publishes 20mph guidance
17/07/2024 The Welsh Government has published guidance on reverting speed limits in built-up areas to 30mph, less than a year after introducing a default 20mph limit. |
£1m boost to road patching in East Sussex
16/07/2024 East Sussex County Council has committed an extra £1m to road patching, but acknowledged it would cost more than £300m to bring all its roads up to scratch. |
Highway leaders warn of ‘roadwork gridlock’
15/07/2024 Nearly two thirds of local highway authority (LHA) leaders believe that we are headed for a road and street work crisis by 2030, new research has revealed. |
App data 'suggests 11.5 million potholes in UK'
02/07/2024 There are five times more defects on British roads than previous estimates, according to data from a dashboard app that uses AI technology. |
New road marking contract for Notts highways
28/06/2024 Road marking and maintenance firm WJ Group has won a new contract with Via East Midlands to deliver road marking services across Nottinghamshire. |
Nine tonnes of bird poo removed from Tyne Bridge
27/06/2024 A multi-million pound revamp of the Tyne Bridge has seen nine tonnes of pigeon poo removed from the Grade II-listed structure. |
TfL lets the wildflowers bloom
25/06/2024 Transport for London (TfL) says it has delivered its pledge of doubling wildflower verges in roadside areas to encourage biodiversity. |
Oxford air pollution falls faster than across UK
25/06/2024 Air pollution in Oxford dropped quicker than the national average during the first full year of the city’s zero emission zone (ZEZ), but levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at two sites breached the legally binding limit. |
Lib Dem £300m pothole pledge ‘won’t scratch the surface’
20/06/2024 The Liberal Democrats have committed to spending £300m over the next Parliament to fill 1.2 million potholes a year. |
Lack of funding hindering road safety, councils say
19/06/2024 Limited funding and inadequate data are major barriers to road safety planning and measurement, local authorities have reported. |
Requests for driver details rise
18/06/2024 Councils and parking companies are increasingly requesting details about a car’s registered keeper, which allows them to fine drivers, according to a car sales firm. |
Council has ‘no plans’ to cancel fines despite error
17/06/2024 Fines issued to drivers for using bus lanes will not be revoked despite containing a mistake, Southwark Council has said. |
Labour pledges to fix one million potholes
12/06/2024 One million potholes a year will be fixed if Labour are elected on 4 July, the shadow transport secretary says. |
Council borrows to spend £10m more on roads
11/06/2024 West Northamptonshire Council plans to borrow up to £10m to spend on schemes aimed at improving roads across the district. |
Tories announce plan to scrap outer London Ulez
10/06/2024 The Conservatives plan to scrap outer London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) if re-elected, Transport Sectary Mark Harper revealed over the weekend. |
Half of cyclists say road conditions are dangerous
10/06/2024 A major local government insurer has warned that months of rain may have caused ‘some of the worst ever road conditions’. |
Councils bring in over £127m in bus lane fines
07/06/2024 Local authorities in England brought in a total of £127.3m in revenue from bus lane fines in 2022/23, according to the AA. |
Council rejects film studio plans despite Hollywood backing
31/05/2024 Buckinghamshire councillors have rejected permission for a proposed film studio despite the plans receiving the backing of Hollywood royalty. |
Child pedestrian casualties on England’s roads up 16%
31/05/2024 Nearly 50 child pedestrians are killed or injured on England’s roads every day, a new study has revealed. |
RAC: Councils take ‘wildly differing approaches’ to potholes
23/05/2024 Local authorities take very different approaches to deciding whether potholes get fixed, which means many go unrepaired, say RAC and Channel 4’s Dispatches. |
Diplomats owe £143.5m in congestion charges
21/05/2024 Embassies in London have amassed debt worth more than £143.5m in unpaid congestion charges since the scheme was introduced in 2003. |
Auditors add to council biometric warnings
20/05/2024 A spending watchdog has echoed councils’ concerns that biometric entry requirements at UK ports could lead to freight delays and gridlock on major roads. |
Council suspends meeting amid disorder over 20mph ‘frustration’
17/05/2024 A Ramsey Town Council meeting was suspended and a man was asked to leave after the agenda descended into a heated discussion about a 20mph traffic zone. |
Councils given extra time on signals plans
15/05/2024 The Government has given English highway authorities an extra month to set out what they plan to do with their share of £50m for upgrading traffic signals. |
Devon CC to invest £12m in pothole and drainage works
13/05/2024 A new multi-million-pound investment in repairing potholes and boosting road drainage has been agreed by Devon council members. |
Council invests emergency £5m to tackle ‘potholes menace’
13/05/2024 Lancashire County Council has announced an emergency £5m to deal with the ‘potholes menace’ ruining the county’s roads. |
Potholes cost economy over £14bn a year
29/04/2024 The poor state of England’s pothole-riddled road system is costing £14.4bn a year in economic damage, new research has revealed. |
RAC: Drivers ‘dodged the pothole bullet’
23/04/2024 Vehicle owners ‘dodged the pothole bullet’ in what is normally the worst three months of the year for breakdowns, according to the RAC. |
A40 park and ride site built – with no road to access it
23/04/2024 Oxfordshire County Council has almost finished work on an 850-space park and ride site, but delays mean it will not be in use for years. |
Wales to ‘correct’ guidance on 20mph speed limits
22/04/2024 The Welsh Government will change its guidance on 20mph speed limits, the transport minister has said. |
Auditors warned over relief road 'iceberg'
19/04/2024 A councillor has asked Shropshire Council’s external auditor to investigate concerns the North West Relief Road will 'completely bankrupt the council'. |
How the government can support road improvements
16/04/2024 Jake Michael, RS Bonds, sets out a number of ways the Government can help local authorities improve the condition of the local road network. |
Toad rescuers help record number of amphibians cross road
11/04/2024 Toad rescuers in Bath have broken a new record by helping the highest number of amphibians cross the road in 14 years. |
Councils publish pothole battle plans
10/04/2024 Local authorities have published which pothole-stricken roads will benefit from the first tranche of an over £8bn package of reallocated HS2 funding. |
Council responds to ‘Daventry Banksie’ pothole complaints
08/04/2024 West Northamptonshire Council has responded to an anti-pothole protester with a computer-generated image of a roadside sign laden with song titles. |
Oxfordshire signs first scheme under new 'brownfield fund'
28/03/2024 Oxfordshire County Council is the first local authority to secure project funding through Homes England's Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land (BIL) Fund. |
Norfolk caught in bitter battle over bats
27/03/2024 A council leader has launched an attack on Natural England after the environment watchdog effectively blocked a £274m road scheme due to its impact on bats. |
DfT hands councils £38m for road safety
22/03/2024 Ministers have announced £38.3m to improve the safety of 17 high risk local roads in England. |
ALARM: Pothole-riddled roads need £16bn investment
19/03/2024 The condition of roads in England and Wales has continued to decline despite councils spending £143.5m filling in two million potholes this financial year. |
‘Toxic’ 15-minute city phrase cut from Oxford local plan
08/03/2024 Oxford City Council has removed mention of ‘15-minute cities’ from its local plan, claiming the concept has become ‘too toxic and incendiary’, The Times has reported. |
Pothole-preventing robot passes first road test
08/03/2024 An autonomous robot designed to detect and fill cracks on roads has passed its first test outside of a laboratory. |
Lambeth scraps LTN
08/03/2024 A low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) trial in Streatham has been suspended with immediate effect following disruption to bus services and ahead of construction work. |
Work begins on Oxford traffic filters
26/02/2024 Work has started on a number of streets in Oxford to prepare the way for six traffic filters as part of a trial aimed at reducing traffic in the city. |
UltraCrete improving road safety near Shrewsbury
26/02/2024 UltraCrete has joined forces with Highway Workforce to repair and replace a failed carriageway frame and cover on a busy road near Shrewsbury. |
Council road maintenance reaches five-year low
26/02/2024 Road maintenance by local authorities in England has dropped by 45% over five years, the RAC has revealed. |
Plymouth council leader applauds city’s ‘war-time spirit’
26/02/2024 The leader of Plymouth council has applauded the ‘war-time spirit’ of the city’s residents after a Second World War bomb was safely detonated at sea. |
Street Scar: why the utilities firms ruin our streets and how to stop it
19/02/2024 Nicholas Boys Smith, founder and chairman of Create Streets, explains what needs to be done to help local authorities prevent 'street scarring'. |
February most dangerous month for ‘pothole prangs’
13/02/2024 Motorists have been warned that February is the most dangerous month for ‘pothole prangs’ as research reveals a dramatic rise in pothole damage claims. |
Council sued after cyclist hits pothole
06/02/2024 Staffordshire County Council is facing legal action after the triathlete Paul Hughes hit a pothole while cycling breaking multiple bones and damaging a lung. |
Councils 'have tightened pothole payout criteria'
05/02/2024 Compensation paid by councils for damage caused by potholes has fallen by more than a half, with some giving out ‘next to nothing’. |
Hants seeks to avoid cost risk on £125m scheme
02/02/2024 Hampshire County Council is facing a funding gap on the A326 North Waterside Improvements scheme, if cost increases go beyond a current estimate of £125m. |
Shell is helping power the journey towards a circular paving industry with Shell Bitumen LT R, a new product for roads that uses plastics destined for landfill as part of the additives to make the bitumen.
Effective Energy Group is now offering its support to the 40 Local Authorities who have received a share of the £430m to deliver their projects on the ground by surveying properties and installing measures.
Dougie Belmore explains how one of the main interfaces between you and Bacs is about to change.
